Academy for Software Engineering

Food Waste for Thought

Finalist Project

Kosi Ozigbo, Goddess Lamont, Jaden Boadu, Obniel Rodriguez, Brandon Veras, Farida Guidi

Food Waste for Thought transforms food and flower scraps from a school community into natural dyes for clothing. Using materials like onion skins, coffee grounds, berries, and vegetable peels, participants create pigments that reimagine waste as a creative resource. The project encourages reflection on food and fashion waste while fostering ecological awareness through hands-on dyeing. Dyed garments become shared expressions of collaboration and sustainability, carrying traces of everyday life and turning discarded materials into wearable stories of collective identity.

Joytrese George, a Minneapolis native, is a certified STEM educator serving youth in New York City. Long active in nonprofit mentoring, she shifted from medicine and clinical research to help close opportunity gaps in STEM. A Master Teacher Fellow with Math for America, she collaborates with peers to strengthen math and science instruction and educator learning. She also leads domestic and international Earthwatch Institute research experiences, bringing students into field-based sustainability and conservation work. Joytrese is committed to reconnecting with family and supporting the rebuilding of Liberia’s education system and environmental infrastructure. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Howard University, an M.S. in Science Education from St. John’s University, and is pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy at American University. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.